Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote:
Aside from not wishing to open myself up to getting cheap-shotted behind my back, I don't actually care much. The person I believe responsible doesn't happen to think that anyone else (maybe three or four people in the world) has these skills the way he understands them. So I am in good company along with the rest of the 6 billion folks on the planet.
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George, my position about the internal-strength skills is that they're very widespread and commonly used in Asian martial-arts and have been for probably a couple of thousand years. I've mentioned that a number of times in the past. The problem is that these skills are a lot more complex and somebody can't just grab a few bits and pieces and make up a hybrid "system" on their own without going astray. Many people go astray; it's a commonly-reported occurrence. What I'd suggest during this renaissance is that people be cautious, but move forward decisively (look how many years are passing quickly!).
In terms of worrying about what other people say about you, let me assure you that this is Aikido and I've heard many negative things about you for years, George (along with many good things, too, of course). Same is true of many/most people in Aikido... it's surprising how many people don't like some people or groups of people.
What to do about that in relation to i.s. skills? Ignore it. The next time I see you I'm going to be interested in what sort of skills you have, not whether you've taken some partisan side as an unproductive attempt to make any expert who doesn't blow your horn for you go away. I'll guarantee you that if you're good to any degree, I'll say it out loud. If you suck, I won't pretend to everyone that you're good anymore than I would mislead you if you ask me my recommendations about some teacher who is not as good as he hypes himself to be. I'll tell you the truth and I'll lay out specifically and physically why.
BTW.... these skills are complex enough that there is no narrow range of skills or partial skills that is the definitive "internal strength". So far, I'm not away of anyone mentioned on AikiWeb as teaching the full gamut of skills. In most cases, it's pretty doubtful that a lot of the named people are even aware of the full gamut of skills. What I'm getting at is that technically I disagree that a lot of the people who are "teaching internal strength" are all doing the same things. However, I don't want to argue it at present, but am simply laying it out there as a gambit for future discussions.
FWIW
Mike Sigman